The Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is currently reviewing WSDOT’s permit applications, and has listed the permit numbers in their 9/15/11 Land Use Bulletin Notice. The Coalition for a Sustainable 520‘s original response to the WSDOT filing is below.
On Friday, WSDOT posted permit applications to build the second Montlake Bridge,
the Portage Bay Bridge, and the west approach. This is ridiculous; the
legislature has not approved construction or funded these segments, the money
is not available, and construction is probably years away. We want to
avoid WSDOT coming in and cutting down trees, and then leaving the area.
This morning we sent the attached letter to the mayor and city council
transportation leaders, and we ask you to follow through with city officials,
telling them not to process these permit applications until the 520 west side
is funded and approved. You can find all their email
addresses here: http://www.sustainable520.org/p/politician-contact-info.html
WSDOT is trying to make its alternative seem inevitable, to make us all give
up. But we are standing strong together, and we are working the
political and legal angles with tenacity. Remember, this project is short
not only the $2 billion that WSDOT acknowledges, but also another $1.6 billion
in funding from tolls which may be wiped out by Eyman’s initiative 1125, and
future federal grants which may not materialize. WSDOT is going
ahead as if all this were in place, and that can’t last forever.
You can read out letter to the city council here: http://montlake.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Coalititon-Letter-to-Mayor-520-permitting.pdf
Fran Conley
CoOrdinator
Coalition for a Sustainable SR 520
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